Ever Present
by ForeverWanderer
Summary: A year after his defeat, Ganon returns from the void, and Zelda must battle him alone... Link/Zelda, rated PG for darkness and angst.


Author's Note:

This is set exactly one year after Ganon's defeat, assuming that Link does *not* go back seven years in time, but rather he and Zelda just deal with the aftermath of Ganon's reign. I don't own any of the characters (except the maid, woo-hoo.) and I'm not making any sort of money off of this, so don't sue me. I'm poor. ;)

            Zelda shivered in the quiet of the fog that morning as the sun began to rise over the lake in the distance. There was no reason to shiver; it was warm even in the early light of the hour. Yet there was a tremble in her skin that could only be like one from a Winter's caress. 

            It was Summer, and Zelda shivered. 

            Ganon had fallen almost a year ago exactly, and in his wake Hyrule was left nearly in ruin. During his reign of seven years, the land was in a perpetual Winter, clouds of yellow and brown and gray covering the sky like an apocalypse. To Zelda as she had wandered the kingdom in lonely exile, the land had seemed to moan at its desolation, a continual reminder of her powerlessness to help it. 

            But a year had passed, and just as it always did when the moon grew large and yellow in the sky, Summer came again, as tranquil and nonchalant as if it had never been absent. No longer was there any Winter (a season that had never lingered long in Hyrule in the first place), no longer was there any malice tainting the air. The only shadow over the land was that of grief, which Zelda knew would take longer than this year to leave. 

            Either way, the scars of this land were no longer so obvious, and there was much to rejoice about; in fact, there was to be a great ball in three days celebrating the one-year anniversary of Ganon's downfall. Hyruleans from all corners would be gathering at the castle for this occasion. 

            Zelda frowned, though, at this thought. She herself only seemed to grow increasingly filled with anxiety, and as each day passed, the weight on her heart only grew heavier. She wondered if ever her life would be free from burden again, but knew that that was too much to hope for, so long as the Triforce of Power was still in Ganon's hands. 

            The princess sighed, and drew her robe more tightly around her. The fog was so thick that she could see her breath join it, yet she could still glimpse the sun coming over the horizon from the balcony of her tower-chamber. She stood there a moment longer, trying to rid herself of the foreboding feeling in her heart.

            There was a knock at the door.

            "Princess Zelda?" She could hear Link from behind. 

            "Come in," She called. 

            "Zelda?" He stepped into the chamber and she continued to stare out at the soft landscape. "Zelda!" He said softly, but almost as intensely as if she'd been trapped in a crystal and was being taken away from him again. "Zelda, what are you doing out here on as cold a morning as this?"

            Her heart seemed to pause, and she turned toward him, studying his gaze.

            "It's not cold."

            He looked away. "Of- of course not," He faltered, and hesitatingly added, "It's just… I just thought…"

            Did he feel it too? Suddenly Zelda broke into a smile. Even now she was still amazed at his perceptiveness, and his complete inability to explain himself. She looked up at him silently and grinned.

            He sighed, and gave up. "I was just coming to check up on you, Princess. You haven't been feeling well lately." As he said it, he knew it was an understatement. The Princess hadn't been feeling well in several years, since before she had laid eyes on Ganon, before dreams of Hyrule's ruin began to haunt her. In fact, he had never known her before the darkness had settled into her eyes. At this thought he despaired- would he _ever_ see the darkness leave her? 

            Still grinning, she turned back to stare out at the vast land before her that was her kingdom. "You've come to check on me this early in the morning?"

            She looked at him, and her smile grew at the expression on his face. Clearly he didn't have an answer for that either, and so with a low chuckle she simply moved into a warm embrace, wrapping her arms around his waist. "You know me too well," She said, and he could feel her grin against his chest. Slowly he put his arms around her, stroking her hair.

            "Zelda," He said, in a choked voice, and her smile fell. "What has been ailing you? You cannot seem to find joy in anything, and there is no rest for you. That is why you stay awake late into the night and rise so early every morning, and all during the day you are tired beyond hope of sleep. You have not been able to grieve for your father's death, yet your duties aren't the cause for that, since you delegate so many tasks to everyone else, as if afraid that anything your hands touch will come to ruin. And every melody you sing is sweet only in the way a remorseful requiem can be." He pulled away from her a bit, smoothed her hair around her face as she looked up at him, eyes a pool of gray sadness. "You are far away from everything, beyond… beyond even…"

            A maid suddenly knocked on the door and promptly let herself in, obviously used to coming in and immediately tidying things up. Zelda and Link broke away from eachother hastily. She looked at both of them in surprise and paused before continuing her routine of straightening Zelda's bedcovers and gathering the laundry. "Your Highness, breakfast is ready," she said and, carrying a basket of clothes, slipped just as quickly out of the room. 

            They both looked away, embarrassed at being discovered, and Zelda observed that the sun was much higher in the sky than when Link had entered. How quickly the hours passed in the presense of the two of them together! If only their years apart had been so quick, as well.

            It was a while before she said anything to Link again. _Me, he was going to say. _Beyond even me._ And yet he was the same way as she. When he was not out ridding the land of the moblins and stalfos that Ganon left behind, he was alone in some far corner of the castle, staring off, startlingly silent: no longer was there a song in his heart that ever reached his ocarina. He wouldn't return to the castle so often, either, except that he worried for Zelda. As it was, he became a knight quickly after Ganon's defeat, and took up residence in the castle in the quarters where the other knights stayed. In the year that passed, he had been active in all the affairs of Hyrule, acting as a sort-of unofficial advisor to the Princess, an excuse to stay by her side as much as possible. Zelda smiled softly at this thought. It was nice to be cared about, anyway. _

            And cared for. Her father's death alone had been hard enough for her, let alone the responcibilty it implied for her as heir to the throne. No longer could she simply go to one of the castle's balls, dance light-heartedly and know that her father was taking care of everything. No longer could she dream of him crowning her Queen, of him marrying her to her groom, of him advising her, training her as he grew older to act justly with her power, to deal diligently in matters of the crown. She had never been able to properly grieve his death, for she hadn't known of it for certain until she came back to the castle and heard news of it from one of the knights. Over those seven long years she had always carried the hope that he had also been able to escape the castle on that fated night.

            No, she wasn't cared for any longer by her Father, and hadn't been for a long time. But Link was there, always looking after the princess, always concerned. The throne was not so lonely when, faced with some decision about restoring the villages or dealing with the injustice of some civilian, she could always turn to Link at the side of the room, and he would always give a subtle sign of approval or disapproval, smiling softly all the while, grateful for the opportunity to be a help to her. 

            She sighed. Though she wanted to remain silent, lose herself in the fog and lift with it as it rose up over the land and back into the sky, she owed Link an explanation, to at least somewhat placate him. She knew that, while she was content with peaceful quiet and few words, Link needed more verbalization.  

            At last she came back to the present moment and said, turning to Link, "The knowledge of Ganon's certain return is constantly with me, ever-present as the push and pull of breath in my body." The words seemed to get heavier in her throat as she continued, "My heart grieves for Hyrule… long after I have died, this fate will still loom over the land. I fear…"

            Link hushed her softly, and moved closer to comfort her as her voice betrayed her anxiety. But he stopped short, unsure of what he could do any more for her. A knock at the door saved him, though, as the maid came in again to remind them of their quickly cooling breakfast. Link and Zelda looked at eachother, slightly exasperated, and followed the maid downstairs.

***

End of Chapter 1


End file.
